Panel supports bill on filing deadline

The Senate Rules Committee on Thursday recommended Senate approval of joint rules for both chambers that would eliminate the filing deadline for bills that aren’t appropriations.

That deadline has been the 55th day of a regular session. Meanwhile, the filing deadline for appropriations bills would continue to be the 50th day under Senate Concurrent Resolution 1 by Senate Rules Committee Chairman Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia. The House on Wednesday approved similar rules.

A two-thirds vote of both chambers would be required to allow the introduction of appropriations bills past deadline.

Maloch said eliminating the deadline for filing regular bills would relieve the workload of legislative staff members.

“On the bill-filing deadline, we’ll have 300, 400, 500 bills filed the last day. We’ll have all those shell bills and everything,” he told reporters. Shell bills lack details that are added later.

House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, said Wednesday that removing the filing deadline for regular bills would relieve the strain on committees and legislative staff members. But he encouraged representatives to file their bills early to ensure each bill gets the appropriate attention from staff and the public.

“This is not to say that we are going to continue to meet until every bill has been heard or taken up,” Shepherd said. “It’s certainly recommended that you file the bills you want passed sooner rather than later. … Really, the bill filing deadline, as it exists, which I think was 55 days in, I think is still probably a good rule of thumb.”